Starting a thread for this year's Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which happens every 4 years and, besides being known as the Olympics of piano, is the biggest U.S. piano competition and rivals only the Tchaikovsky and Chopin competitions in world standing.

This year's edition happens in late May and early June at the beautiful Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. Last time (2009), there was an free live webcast with excellent subtitled commentary/program notes and a fashionable live host (Jade, if I remember correctly).

Auditions are currently being conducted worldwide, and they're happening in New York through Saturday. NYC folks, you can check out the auditions live, in person, for free, at Rockefeller University on 66th & York:

Edited to add: clips of Olga Kern, the rock star and co-gold medalist of the 2001 competition. She is currently enjoying a career as a B-level performer internationally. I've enjoyed both her subsequent Carnegie Hall debuts (Zankel Hall, then Stern Auditorium) way back when, one of her Midwestern performances, and her recent Bay Area recital.

THANK YOU for this thread! I lurrrrved watching the live streams of the last Van Cliburn competition. The coverage and commentary was so good. And above all, the music was sublime. I'm looking forward to watching again. xoxoxo

Edited to add: clips of Olga Kern, the rock star and co-gold medalist of the 2001 competition. She is currently enjoying a career as a B-level performer internationally. I've enjoyed both her subsequent Carnegie Hall debuts (Zankel Hall, then Stern Auditorium) way back when, one of her Midwestern performances, and her recent Bay Area recital.

Edited to add: clips of Olga Kern, the rock star and co-gold medalist of the 2001 competition. She is currently enjoying a career as a B-level performer internationally. I've enjoyed both her subsequent Carnegie Hall debuts (Zankel Hall, then Stern Auditorium) way back when, one of her Midwestern performances, and her recent Bay Area recital.

I had the pleasure of attending a Van Cliburn concert many years ago. He performed two encores (one of them was 'Revolutionary Etude').

Last year I had the pleasure of attending Olga Kern's performance here. She played Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto- the one she played to win the VC competition. It was a very strong performance. She is going to perform here very soon this year.

"In 1958, he proved to the world that music is a transcendental force that goes beyond political boundaries and cultural boundaries and unifies mankind. He was a very concrete example of that," said Veda Kaplinsky, head of the piano department at the Juilliard School in New York. "Beyond that, his legacy is that of a person who personified grace, humility, talent, kindness and sincerity. He was a human being first and foremost. He never lost that."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Oh what a pity.
Apart from his achievements as a pianist, he truly symbolized a breath of freedom for so many Russians, my family included.
RIP.
What's more, the way he heard music was very "Russian", and that could not help but endear him to millions.
So now I am wondering all over youtube...
Posting only the last part, but there is the whole Final Round Rachmaninov Third by the same poster. Really something.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV9bmcE7d5Y

We in Fort Worth have always been proud of the fact that Van Cliburn, even though he wasn't originally from here, settled here & established his competition here. He was really a local hero. RIP Mr Cliburn.